Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

ginnyknit

My girls always get a handful of maggots off DH when he has been fishing and they go mad, they also love a cheap tin of pilchards occasionally - leave the oil on them. Dh handed me a large worm today when we were digging up the spuds for tea, give that to the girls he said - after I screamed and ran away he realised I thought it was a slug - they absolutely send me sick. He laughed himself silly... he will pay!

moominyak

miss_t wrote: »

Have also received the Flubavet today, so am now off to measure out 2kg of food to mix it in. Can I ask, do I treat them with this every month? I look in the leaflet but it only talks about what to do if they already have worms and to repeat the treatment after 3 weeks in case of reinfestation :huh:

Hi again

I've not used the Flubenvet yet, but the general consensus (from various forums) seems to be worm them twice yearly, in the Autumn and in the Spring. I'm sure somebody experienced will correct me if I'm wrong!

I don't know how many hens you have, but I think it's meant to be given over 7 days with their proper food (mash/pellets) and don't feed them anything else to ensure they eat it all up.

I reckon mine will need 3.5kg with the Flubenvet mixed in (4 hens x 125g feed per day x 7 days) - I think I'm just going to mix 12g of Flub. in with 4kg of food as that will be easier to measure!

Thought I'd give them a couple of weeks to settle in first though.

They all came out by themselves this morning, no enticements needed :j Down to 1 egg a day the past 3 days, hopefully that is just them getting used to a new routine, but they are great even without any eggs! I'm just reluctant to buy any more from the supermarket now I've tasted those from my own hens!!

miss_t_2

Thanks for the reply, I only have two hens so it will be the one scoop in the 2kg of feed, not sure if they will eat that much or not but will see how it goes.

I have been browsing online and have just seen that you are not supposed to let them out whilst they are on the Flubenvet, which I know they are not going to like. At the moment as I am on holiday they are out all day long, so am thinking I either need to put up with their whining clucks, or not worm them until I return to work in 3 weeks time. My only other thought is letting them out for an hour at night when I know they have eaten their rations for the day?

Kimitatsu

moominyak wrote: »

Hi again

I've not used the Flubenvet yet, but the general consensus (from various forums) seems to be worm them twice yearly, in the Autumn and in the Spring. I'm sure somebody experienced will correct me if I'm wrong!

I don't know how many hens you have, but I think it's meant to be given over 7 days with their proper food (mash/pellets) and don't feed them anything else to ensure they eat it all up.

I reckon mine will need 3.5kg with the Flubenvet mixed in (4 hens x 125g feed per day x 7 days) - I think I'm just going to mix 12g of Flub. in with 4kg of food as that will be easier to measure!

Thought I'd give them a couple of weeks to settle in first though.

They all came out by themselves this morning, no enticements needed :j Down to 1 egg a day the past 3 days, hopefully that is just them getting used to a new routine, but they are great even without any eggs! I'm just reluctant to buy any more from the supermarket now I've tasted those from my own hens!!

I use Verm-x for mine and I worm them every month. I have 16 chooks (yup mad I know!) and three babies this year which the broodies have hatched. All the hens are free range and we feed them layers pellets with bird seed to give them a wide variety - they get grit from the grass and dust baths.

I just have to mention as well that my girls have two nesting sites between all of them (we started out with lots of boxes etc but they choose to huddle together and they use the hutches to lay eggs during the day)

WEEZE210_2

As lots of you are aware I haven't had my girls long (almost 3 weeks) and we have a problem. Florence the most outgoing from the start and our best egg layer, (we've had 8 eggs and only one has definately come from another chicken other than Florence) well she has started, a bit yesterday and all of today, pulling out the fluffy backend tail feathers out of all the other hens and eating them. She has been a tiny bit agressive over food since we first got her but when she does this there isn't any aggression she just pulls out a feather as they pass and swallows it. They were all in the same enclosure when we bought them with at least 40 others.
Any ideas anyone. They are all in bed at the moment and all is quiet like every night but what am I to do in the morning?
HELP!
Weeze x

WEEZE210_2

Any ideas anyone? She's still doing it this morning!

Weeze x

salthepal

It might be a good idea to separate Florence for a while from the others in a run but where she can still see them and they can see her. I suppose it is like putting her "in her place". This can work wonders for a bossy one.
Also make sure they have plenty to do - as they can get bored - I dig up a big bucket of weeds 2 or 3 times a day for my girls and this keeps them busy.

ginnyknit

I keep mine busy, hang some leaves from the top of the coop so they have to stretch to eat them and I tip pots of wormy soil in occasionally, grass cuttings keep them busy too. If you press gently on the dominant chickens back so she has to squat she will get the point that you are boss. I throw uprooted veg plants in instead of putting them in the compost - peas and bean plants for them to root around and any passing slug or worm gets chucked in as I am pottering. Feather plucking is a sign of boredom in other birds so it may be with chooks too?

I made a feeder out of a lemonade bottle and the fitting off a bird seed feeder full of their pellets this kept bossy boots busy for hours as she worked out how to dismantle it and then she squashed the bottle too :rotfl:Above all don't stress about it they are tough birds and will, like kids, sort themselves out!

WEEZE210_2

Thanks for the responses. I've put Florence in the parrot's aviary (Alfie the parrot is in his indoor cage!) luckly it is right next to the chickens and the door is reached by going through the chickens run anyway. So she can see the other three but she doesn't seem bothered. The other three look more relaxed. I've hung up some greenery in both areas. Another thing I've read while googling last night is that it might be a lack of protein, any thoughts?
At the moment they eat layers pellets, mixed corn late afternoon and lots of various greens through the day.

Thanks Weeze x

ginnyknit

Pilchards are good occasionally in oil. worms too- cheap option :rotfl: